It’s not as bad as people say it is, in the same situation as you and solely use SC for charging the car. Usually I go from 20-80% in 40 min, I just chill watching Netflix in the car.
For me personally 80% of the Y LR's total range will last me realistically speaking 180 miles, maybe? More or less than that. Keep in mind that out of 85 KWh (330 mi) only 79KWh are usable by the Y and it goes further down after that.
Well you take into calculation the ambient temperature (anything under 25C or 77F will impact the battery range), the climate settings inside the car, your driving style, road conditions, etc.
Followup question if you don't mind.
Do you worry about long term battery health when only supercharging? I keep reading about how that causes it to degrade and lose range faster, but I justify it in my head as "I don't drive enough for it to have that big of an impact, and eventually I'll live somewhere with more sustainable home charging."
Curious for your thoughts, thanks!
I think I'll rack up more than that for sure, but yeah it's not a *ton* of miles these days. Also my partner and I aren't sure about staying in this area long term, but we do know that our current cars aren't serving our needs or lifestyle anymore, so we just want to own something that we love.
It's also that LA is just not a great place to live without a car. We make semi-frequent trips to the valley to see her family, and then just seeing friends on the west side is its own adventure, too. If I was in the middle of NYC it would be a different story, for example.
Edit: calculated and last year I was just shy of 4000 miles.
Lots of options for charging in the LA area. Download the PlugShare app to get a sense of the chargers in your area. You probably won’t need to charge as often as you think, but the car is definitely nice for LA traffic, not having to step on the brake.
Nice! Maybe owning this car makes you *want* to take long road trips? I've heard great things about how the software neatly plans out all your charging stops along the way for you.
It does, but it isn’t perfect. If you’re on a trip and you notice large gaps between superchargers make sure you drive 65mph or slower. We almost got screwed going between Kingman, AZ and the Grand Canyon
Totally irrelevant to this discussion, but we have an old Jeep wrangler that only gets 500 miles a year. Insurance continually fights us on it, they don't believe anyone would only drive 500 miles a year. No duh, that's why we have a Tesla!
Located in Los Angeles and just took delivery of a MYLR three weeks ago, also no home charger. Partner and I drive maybe 100-200 miles a week max. We have charged twice during peak times (8am-12am at most chargers) and it cost about $15-20 both times. Charged at non-peak (before 8am) once from 9-80% and was only $12. The car charges pretty quickly up to 80% and took less than 30 minutes for all super charger trips. Many superchargers are located within shopping centers, malls, etc so you can shop/ walk around while charging. There are a some free charging stations near us. We had our first experience at one this weekend, this was much slower than supercharging (got about 15% in 2 hours we were plugged in). I recommend downloading PlugShare to see what stations are around you, if you haven’t already.
Overall, we love the car a lot and are thoroughly enjoying the switch to an EV. LA (and many other cities) are a convenient place to own an EV because of how many chargers are around. How much of a hassle it is will depend on your lifestyle.
Many of us have this lifestyle and no problems owning an EV at all. I charge once a week from 15-20% to 80% and it lasts the whole week. Might be wise to turn off sentry mode at your home location to save battery...unless you don't trust your neighbors that park on either side of you. Tesla Supercharger usually averages to $14-$18 when going from 20%-80% in 20 mins or less. Not bad!
Since you are in an actual garage, I'm certain there have to be basic outlets in there. If you drive around and locate them you can then ask the office if they'll let you switch parking spots so you can plug the car at home. Might work but if not, you have nothing to worry about.
Totally doable! I had 120V charging at my house that I lost for 3 months when they rebuilt my garage. Urban charging in Chicago was fantastic for those 3 months. I just topped up once per week and there was almost never a line. One thing to consider is how fast the charging is near you. I was going to a supercharger which would top me up in 20-30 minutes. There are DC fast chargers for charge point too but you'd need to get that special converter so the plug would fit.
If you were going to use a 240V charger, be prepared to need to charge it over the course of a work day 6-7 hours rather than <30 min. My wife did this occasionally as well and it worked because her office is close to that kind of charger (both chargepoint and tesla destination chargers). Check the chargers near you and make sure they aren't lame like a 7 kW/hr kind, those would take 24h to fully charge!
Thank you, exactly the kind of reply I was hoping for!
By special converter, do you mean this?
https://shop.tesla.com/product/ccs-combo-1-adapter?web=true
Yup that's the one! I haven't used it, so I can't speak to it but people seem to like it. When I bought my model Y last year it came with the J1772 converter and that one is good for the charge point 240V charging that takes several hours. https://shop.tesla.com/product/sae-j1772-charging-adapter?sku=1067348-00-C
I don’t charge at home. Luckily, a SC is within a few blocks of my house. If I go at off-peak, it’s around $12 (20-80%), peak is about $24 and takes about 30min. I don’t drive much (6k a year) and usually charge every 3-4 days depending on errands and how fast I’m driving (Performance).
Grab a snack, shop, play a few games of Fallout Shelter and you’re on your way.
I’m in Orange County, I have a bunch of Lvl 2 chargers a 5 min walk from my apartment, I will usually leave my car there for a few hours on my days off until it charges. I also just use superchargers, it’s usually $12-25 depending on when and where I charge.
I’ve had the car for two months and 3000 miles, not bothersome yet.
I charge at work. Will be honest, having this car makes me want to travel more. Road-trips are much more enjoyable with FSD and supercharging stops to break it up. Not to mention cheaper
Here's a hint: With 330 miles total range (MYLR) that's **200 miles** you can freely use between the recommended charging above 20% and below 80%. You may just need to **Supercharge once a month** and before any road trips. Note that Sentry Mode will drain your battery so plan on keeping that off.
Where is your car normally parked? Sheltered garage with potential access to a 12V plug? Since you drive SO little, are there FREE (or convenient, paid) L2 charging (check plugshare/chargepoint) at places you normally shop at? Just plug in and charge while you do your normal errands
Sheltered garage, but it's a big underground complex with security patrols. I can't start running cables willy nilly but I am trying to gather more info. There are charging stations provided for some of the tenants of the neighboring buildings who share the garage, but not for tenants of my garage in particular.
And yeah I definitely hope the charging-while-erranding lifestyle works out for me! I do a lot of my errands on foot since I'm downtown, FWIW.
But yeah that's kind of what I was trying to understand from this post - who is living this life charging right now, what does it look like, and how much do you love or hate it?
My landlord allowed me to pay to install a 110v outlet once I found someone to swap parking spots with me (my original spot was behind the elevators, my new spot backed onto the room with the basement electrical panel.)
I got the last circuit left on the basement electrical panel.
The cost including a cut to the landlord was just under what I had paid for gas the previous year for my Prius.
The building has been sold, the new landlord is honoring the installation and hasn't cut me off. They will not consider allowing for any more modifications. They are building a new building on the property and it will have L2 chargers for the residents using that building's garage.
I live somewhere that gets very cold. The garage is technically heated but was below freezing this past weekend and the car interior was 29F at one point. The wind chill outside was -40.
I also live in an an urban neighbourhood and do most of my errands by foot or transit. There are two public chargers, one on the street, one in an underground garage with a grocery store above it that also has a cafe to sit in. Both are within a 14 minute walk. They are my backup plan if I lose my sweet deal here.
We are WFH but have managed to put almost 18K miles on each year. During a pandemic. In a place with major covid restrictions and family reasons to keep my interactions to a minimum. (P.S. love the car as a mobile isolation booth. We'd go get take-out and sit in the car eating it, enjoying a different view or just watching Netflix. Winter or summer, because hot or cold doesn't affect the comfort of sitting in the car while parked. We also keep two great camp rocking chairs and a picnic blanket in the back of the car and had many socially distanced outdoor visits with people.)
I find 110v is more than enough, even with real winter drop in driving range.
I basically hate the Tesla, but not because of the charging situation. That said, I find owning a Model Y endlessly frustrating and if I had the greater inconvenience of having to constantly be thinking about charging, that would be a deal breaker for me.
You referred to you and your partners carS, so if you are keeping an ICE and just replacing one ICE with the EV it might work out. This is our only vehicle (we first reduced our carbon footprint by going down to a single vehicle and then further by moving from a rural village to a city centre and finally by buying an EV.) Thus everything is complicated by charging thoughts. (For instance to/from my son's is 100miles, so to pickup, bring home, enjoy the day and then return one my grandkids to their home is 200 miles which is beyond the range of my car on any day close to 0 even if I leave with a 100% charge. If I can't charge at home, I'd never be leaving with 100% charge to go anywhere which would be very limiting. If I had a backup ICE it wouldn't be an issue. I don't.
It sucks to have to run out and kill 30 minutes (plus driving time) to get a charge. We didn't have the home charger installed for the first few weeks of ownership and it wasn't fun. It even caused us to drive our old ICE vehicle a few times while the Tesla was on a low charge in the driveway.
Now that we have the home charger it is way better and I don't ever see us running out to a supercharger again.
The supercharger is about 10 minutes away but it was still a pain because we had to go every few days, in the evenings, since the 60% range is only about 170 miles. MYLR.
ok, so i'm new to this too and i just got my car.
So! Download Chargepoint, PlugShare and check the electric chargers around you, look for plugs that are 50kWh and then buy the CCS adapter too.
Its totally doable.
Ask for me help.
While the CCS adapter may sound pricy, ive been saving about .10 on each kilowatt with it unless i wait for 11pm for when it dips down to .21 instead if the usual .43 in my area for after work.
It's so interesting that now that the BEV world has opened up we forget what we used to do when we only had ICE or HEVs. We would ALWAYS have to leave our abodes and drive to a GAS STATION (HORRORS!) EVERY WEEK OR WORSE depending on how far we drove. Now it seems we need to have that security blanket of "REFUELING" at home and never going to a refueling station anymore. How quickly we forget.... Nice to have a choice I guess, yes?
It is indeed quite nice! I do feel extremely privileged to soon be owning a car like this.
We are actually getting rid of both of our ICE cars. Parking is its own headache downtown, and our unit is only deeded with one spot. I assume insurance would cover rental reimbursement in the event of needing to be in the shop? And with how little we truly need a car, I think we'd be ok for a short stretch without wheels.
Everything else aside…
If you cannot charge at home or work, it’s NOT worth having one.
Supercharging is practically at par with Gas unless you can always charge off peak, which won’t be likely if it’s your only reliable method.
Between the expense and inconvenience of charging pretty much exclusively at public spots you’re better off without. Seriously.
You’ll be fine. Your situation sounds a lot like mine. I’ll use Chargepoint every couple of weeks when I need to. And supercharge on trips. As long as you have an affordable lvl 2 charger near you, it’s very manageable, especially if you work from home. I’ll plug mine in at the end of lunch, and then get it after work.
Brooklyn checking in. I’m similarly low mileage. As long as you don’t daily commute it, it’s completely fine. I have L2s in the neighborhood and superchargers nearby and it just becomes part of your routine every two or three weeks. Not a big deal at all—burden is wildly overstated by people. I was also nervous about it pre-delivery but it’s been easy.
>I live in downtown of a major urban center. I have one super charger location nearby though its in a shopping center garage with paid parking (free 2hr validation if I shop). Another one that requires hotel valet parking (lame). Probably a lot of other kinds of non-tesla charging around, too.
Sooooo Los Angeles ? Lol
Your usage case sounds similar to my brother-in-law and without a dedicated charger, it can be a bit of a pain. Those public chargers (especially free or free with validation) are often occupied so I wouldn't rely on those. If you live near a Tesla supercharger and don't mind paying those rates, that would be more doable just because charging speed is usually much better.
I just ordered my first EV too, but I live in a house in OC. You can download all the apps for Chargepoint, Electrify America, etc and see which chargers are in use and even the make of the car!
It’s not that bad. Although, I do have chargers at my work so I charge for free while I’m there. I go to the office twice a week on Monday’s and Friday’s. And that basically gets me through each week. If I miss a day in the office, I’ll maybe supercharge for like 5-10 minutes and just get 20-30% to get me through to the next day in the office. But it really isn’t that bad. And that’s with current winter weather conditions. It’s even better in the spring/summer :) congratulations!
I wouldn't base any purchase decision on what is free. Volta has been turning their chargers to paid in many places plus they do have a limit in many places, it's rude just to hog it for hours and hours and finally someone else may decide to hog it the entire day as well then you are wasting time going to find fast charger which isn't great for the car.
I used public L2s for four months, was fine. I would charge once a week and just go for a run or a long walk. If it was really empty I’d walk home and go back later on in the day. Obviously depends on your daily mileage and local charging infrastructure. I really didn’t mind it.
I use Volta charger, its free charging and it takes 6 hours for charging 20% to 80%. The charger is at a mile from me so I just use an electric scooter to go home and come back after few hours. I do it twice a week.
Def an inconvenience but doable based on your usage. Just make sure to keep sentry mode off when parked at home (if safe neighborhood) as that will kill quite a bit of the idle time battery.
Otherwise you’ll probably have to use a supercharger around every 10 days are so not to have the range get to low (<40mi for me personally).
Charging won't really be a pain when you aren't driving much, but honestly I wouldn't own a car or a fancy car to drive next to nothing. Anyhow. You can just charge at the shopping center garage or find another supercharger, Be aware though that superchargers aren't cheap. Charging at home is fairly cheap and with the actual range that you get, it isn't even that cheap.
Wow. If you don't drive that much. I would use a cheap ice car...And wait till 2-3 more years. Because there will be more options for EV vehicles and technology.
I did that 3 years ago, people have been saying this for a long time. It’s getting a bit tired to be honest! There’s no predicting supply chains in this world and Tesla still seems lightyears ahead in terms of what I’m looking for. Our cars are getting old and my we want a nice, comfortable, tech forward car. This is what we landed on. With the tax credit (hopefully) and splitting the purchase together between our incomes, the financial picture remains fine for us.
I can afford it, and I want my time in the car to be nice. I’ve been in an ICE-level car my entire driving life and can finally upgrade, so I’m going to.
How much of a headache is this car to own? It seems pretty straight forward but I don’t have it yet. I know people way lazier and less fussy with their belongings than me who drive pricier Teslas than me.
Download PlugShare, i mean.. i have a home charher but rarely use it. When i'm below 20% i'll just go to supercharge and charge quickly. If i want my car to always be at 80% then i'll just charge at home for 1.5hrs after work. (Est 30miles roundtrip)
I once went to a supercharger that was inside of a hotel's paid parking lot. The guy taking the money said Tesla's park for free because of the supercharger. Might be the case for that hotel too.
I charge late at night or early in the morning (off peak pricing). Make sure to navigate to the supercharger to get pre conditioning.
Best to expect 25 minutes to an hr depending on SOC, battery temp, exterior temp, etc.
You'll have no problems at all. I don't have a home charging setup (no driveway). My wife will charge it at work, at a ChargePoint. We use the supercharger to top off before any trips and when on the road.
Supercharging at my local target took 1-1.5 hours (8 of 10 chargers were being used) temperature was like 12degrees F in MN) for the first week after delivery before my home charger was installed.
30cents/ kWh is not great and I wouldn’t recommend it long term.
My home electricity is 9.4 cents per kWh.
I wouldn’t personally buy a Tesla if I did not have my single family home.
I live in the city and do have a way to charge at home, but rarely do. I tend to use ChargePoint to find charging. And if I'm going someone and need to find parking, I'll look for the garages with free charging. (I'd pay to park anyway, so the free charging is a bonus).
For your situation it’s not bad ……if you daily drive the car and gotta charge every other day it would be very annoying. Also keep in mind dc charging it’s supposed to be not the best for the battery……see below
https://optiwatt.com/blog/the-comprehensive-guide-to-maximizing-your-teslas-battery-efficiency-and-battery-life
I personally use the trickle charger at home.
The annoying thing about SC in your situation is you will have to wait for the car to charge. The thing I really like about my EV is that charging takes me about five seconds. Yeah, it's only 5mi/hr or so, but whatever, that's roughly 100 miles a day. More than enough.
The downtown shopping centre could work for you. Just charge whenever you happen to be going there anyway. Let's say you got there once a month and grab your two hours free every trip. That would eliminate most thumb twiddling waiting for the car to charge.
You say you can't charge at home. Where do you normally park? Is it close enough to an outlet to trickle charge? Maybe sometimes just randomly if you happen to get a particular park? Could you talk to whoever manages the park about putting a power outlet in? My point is that three phase and/or high voltage are both nice but are not necessary for your situation.
Don’t just look at super chargers, some Kohl’s and shopping center offer free charging. I, on occasion park at kohl’s on Tuesday and Thursday, charge and go to the gym.
Or take a midnight Tesla movie date night and charge for about 21 cents a kWh, cheaper than any home charging in the LA area.
Do you have your own parking area? Like a garage? If you do, use the 120v plug. It will give you 3/mph. Should be good if you don't go places everyday. At the minimum it will lessen the trips to the SC.
If you rely on just SC and charge up to 80% and never below 20%… is that safe for the life of the batteries?
I read that just supercharging isn’t idle since you’re charging the battery super fast for optimal temperature. In the same boat and thankfully have 4 hours L2 free charging.
you definitely want to figure out a possible place for long term cheap charging. Otherwise some of these chargepoint/lvl 2 chargers can be quite expensive and slow
I’m in the same no home charger. I charge at work for free two days a week, then there’s the free charging while I do my daily grocery shopping, free charging at the gym and there’s super charging. It’s doable!!
Supercharging frequently is awful for the battery so expect over time to lose a lot of your range.
You’re also supposed to keep the car plugged in when not in use, which you won’t be able to do.
I would have recommended a plug in hybrid for your little usage for the sole reason of relying on superchargers and that you can’t keep it plugged in when not in use.
Also, I wouldn’t recommend using chargers not designed for the vehicle. There aren’t studies on the last affects of using chargers not designed for the vehicle, but if it’s not designed for it then don’t use it.
Only if you are planning on keeping the car for ever. I am not! Max 2 years or until the market re-adjusts and I can get out of this car. There are reports where people only use superchargers for a year and no battery degradation however it is going to happen regardless b/c of what it is made of. I don't keep my car plugged in as I dont have a garage. Plus look at the European counties and majority of the people park int the street and use chargers all the time in cold weather. I think people are too sensitive sometimes..It is a car after all and not some shiny diamond.
It’s a 50-100k vehicle, costs more than a diamond.
Also the manufacturer states to not supercharge frequently and to keep the vehicle plugged in at all times to ensure battery safety. If you don’t, you will have battery issues and range issues. And if you need a battery replacement and they can prove that you mistreated the battery and didn’t follow manufacture instructions they won’t warranty it.
I’d say the European countries are the ones who complain about range more than here. I bet there’s a correlation.
IMO if you don’t have a garage, a means to install a NEMA 14-50 charger at home then you cant properly maintain the vehicle and shouldn’t get it
Nope the car is not even $100k not for a M3 or a MY. Prices dropped to the $30-40s now., not sure where you have been. Dont' believe it. You continue to believe everything a manufacturer says and I bet you drive the speed limit too? haha . Not always true about the battery degrade and range issues. Just read little more and do more research. Nope, I don't have a garage and will NEVER obtain one. I don't need to spend money on one. I get free charging at work everyday, free charging at the gym and at grocery stores. Guess who is winning?
I said 50-100k because the vehicle line up is that. Even so, 30-40k (you legit can’t buy a new one in this range..) is still more expensive than a diamond.
You do realize you are operating a death trap? Vehicles of any brand are legit capable of killing your and anyone on the road if maintained poorly.
It is also entirely proven that supercharging frequently will have a negative impact on your battery health and range.
Good for you for having a weird stance against garages, most homes are built with them now but go you for putting your expensive car through the weather. And I’m glad you have a free charging option but still, to ensure max battery health it needs to always be plugged in when not in use for extended periods of time (I’m talking over night or days you don’t drive)
Also weird you want to heavily rely on other places. I don’t want to rely on my work to provide me the ability to drive somewhere. What if you get laid off? Or the gym closes. Or the grocery stores start charging. Living your life, especially the transport factor, in reliance on others is not the way I wanna go. But you do you.
Regardless, I hope you don’t have battery issues
Ive have a MY for 3 years, previously at a house where I charged daily. I am in the opposite situation, I drive 80-100 miles daily. No brainer having a EV for multiple reasons to me (environmentally speaking you have to own the vehicle for a least 5 years-20k miles per year to break even with the carbon footprint generated over that same time by an ICE vehicle, as you may know) but also the technology, the self driving capability, etc. Now, for the last 6 months we moved and now I’m in a condo (own it) but that won’t allow owners to install EV chargers. It’s a major pain in the neck, however, I have been able to adapt the best way possible. I’m in ATL, and fortunately there’s a shopping area walking distance from my building. The chargers are in their parking garage (there’s like 30 chargers, it’s the largest station in GA) so I plug it and go upstairs to do my groceries, or go to the gym for a quick 30 min workout or run, etc. money wise it’s still better than gas. At 2k miles per month I’m paying about $200-300 vs $500-600 that I would pay in gas.
It’s not as bad as people say it is, in the same situation as you and solely use SC for charging the car. Usually I go from 20-80% in 40 min, I just chill watching Netflix in the car.
I love Netflix and Chilling in my car! Back seats down, of course
Cool to know. How much does that 20-80% charge cost you? How long does that 80% tank last you generally in terms of miles?
Last night I went from 7% to 61% in about 16 minutes at a 250 kW Super charger.
I go during peak times; located in SoCal it ranges anywhere from $14-17. I think it gives me roughly 220 miles
For me personally 80% of the Y LR's total range will last me realistically speaking 180 miles, maybe? More or less than that. Keep in mind that out of 85 KWh (330 mi) only 79KWh are usable by the Y and it goes further down after that.
Thank you! What do you mean by "it goes further down after that" - you mean that the battery ages over time + charge cycles and doesn't last as long?
Well you take into calculation the ambient temperature (anything under 25C or 77F will impact the battery range), the climate settings inside the car, your driving style, road conditions, etc.
Followup question if you don't mind. Do you worry about long term battery health when only supercharging? I keep reading about how that causes it to degrade and lose range faster, but I justify it in my head as "I don't drive enough for it to have that big of an impact, and eventually I'll live somewhere with more sustainable home charging." Curious for your thoughts, thanks!
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I think I'll rack up more than that for sure, but yeah it's not a *ton* of miles these days. Also my partner and I aren't sure about staying in this area long term, but we do know that our current cars aren't serving our needs or lifestyle anymore, so we just want to own something that we love. It's also that LA is just not a great place to live without a car. We make semi-frequent trips to the valley to see her family, and then just seeing friends on the west side is its own adventure, too. If I was in the middle of NYC it would be a different story, for example. Edit: calculated and last year I was just shy of 4000 miles.
Lots of options for charging in the LA area. Download the PlugShare app to get a sense of the chargers in your area. You probably won’t need to charge as often as you think, but the car is definitely nice for LA traffic, not having to step on the brake.
I went from 5-10k miles per year to 20-25k miles per year when I got my Model Y. It opens up a whole world of possibilities. Be prepared for that!
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Nice! Maybe owning this car makes you *want* to take long road trips? I've heard great things about how the software neatly plans out all your charging stops along the way for you.
It does, but it isn’t perfect. If you’re on a trip and you notice large gaps between superchargers make sure you drive 65mph or slower. We almost got screwed going between Kingman, AZ and the Grand Canyon
Why don't you just rent a car when you need it? It'll probably be much cheaper over the long run and you don't need to worry about anything.
Totally irrelevant to this discussion, but we have an old Jeep wrangler that only gets 500 miles a year. Insurance continually fights us on it, they don't believe anyone would only drive 500 miles a year. No duh, that's why we have a Tesla!
Located in Los Angeles and just took delivery of a MYLR three weeks ago, also no home charger. Partner and I drive maybe 100-200 miles a week max. We have charged twice during peak times (8am-12am at most chargers) and it cost about $15-20 both times. Charged at non-peak (before 8am) once from 9-80% and was only $12. The car charges pretty quickly up to 80% and took less than 30 minutes for all super charger trips. Many superchargers are located within shopping centers, malls, etc so you can shop/ walk around while charging. There are a some free charging stations near us. We had our first experience at one this weekend, this was much slower than supercharging (got about 15% in 2 hours we were plugged in). I recommend downloading PlugShare to see what stations are around you, if you haven’t already. Overall, we love the car a lot and are thoroughly enjoying the switch to an EV. LA (and many other cities) are a convenient place to own an EV because of how many chargers are around. How much of a hassle it is will depend on your lifestyle.
Many of us have this lifestyle and no problems owning an EV at all. I charge once a week from 15-20% to 80% and it lasts the whole week. Might be wise to turn off sentry mode at your home location to save battery...unless you don't trust your neighbors that park on either side of you. Tesla Supercharger usually averages to $14-$18 when going from 20%-80% in 20 mins or less. Not bad! Since you are in an actual garage, I'm certain there have to be basic outlets in there. If you drive around and locate them you can then ask the office if they'll let you switch parking spots so you can plug the car at home. Might work but if not, you have nothing to worry about.
Totally doable! I had 120V charging at my house that I lost for 3 months when they rebuilt my garage. Urban charging in Chicago was fantastic for those 3 months. I just topped up once per week and there was almost never a line. One thing to consider is how fast the charging is near you. I was going to a supercharger which would top me up in 20-30 minutes. There are DC fast chargers for charge point too but you'd need to get that special converter so the plug would fit. If you were going to use a 240V charger, be prepared to need to charge it over the course of a work day 6-7 hours rather than <30 min. My wife did this occasionally as well and it worked because her office is close to that kind of charger (both chargepoint and tesla destination chargers). Check the chargers near you and make sure they aren't lame like a 7 kW/hr kind, those would take 24h to fully charge!
Thank you, exactly the kind of reply I was hoping for! By special converter, do you mean this? https://shop.tesla.com/product/ccs-combo-1-adapter?web=true
Yup that's the one! I haven't used it, so I can't speak to it but people seem to like it. When I bought my model Y last year it came with the J1772 converter and that one is good for the charge point 240V charging that takes several hours. https://shop.tesla.com/product/sae-j1772-charging-adapter?sku=1067348-00-C
I don’t charge at home. Luckily, a SC is within a few blocks of my house. If I go at off-peak, it’s around $12 (20-80%), peak is about $24 and takes about 30min. I don’t drive much (6k a year) and usually charge every 3-4 days depending on errands and how fast I’m driving (Performance). Grab a snack, shop, play a few games of Fallout Shelter and you’re on your way.
I’m in Orange County, I have a bunch of Lvl 2 chargers a 5 min walk from my apartment, I will usually leave my car there for a few hours on my days off until it charges. I also just use superchargers, it’s usually $12-25 depending on when and where I charge. I’ve had the car for two months and 3000 miles, not bothersome yet.
Thank you, great data point!
I charge at work. Will be honest, having this car makes me want to travel more. Road-trips are much more enjoyable with FSD and supercharging stops to break it up. Not to mention cheaper
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Sounds like we’re thinking about it similarly. Thanks for those data points. Glad you’re enjoying the ride!
Here's a hint: With 330 miles total range (MYLR) that's **200 miles** you can freely use between the recommended charging above 20% and below 80%. You may just need to **Supercharge once a month** and before any road trips. Note that Sentry Mode will drain your battery so plan on keeping that off.
I like thinking about it this way. It’s slightly less often than I put gas in my Prius. Thanks!
Following. Similar situation
Where is your car normally parked? Sheltered garage with potential access to a 12V plug? Since you drive SO little, are there FREE (or convenient, paid) L2 charging (check plugshare/chargepoint) at places you normally shop at? Just plug in and charge while you do your normal errands
Sheltered garage, but it's a big underground complex with security patrols. I can't start running cables willy nilly but I am trying to gather more info. There are charging stations provided for some of the tenants of the neighboring buildings who share the garage, but not for tenants of my garage in particular. And yeah I definitely hope the charging-while-erranding lifestyle works out for me! I do a lot of my errands on foot since I'm downtown, FWIW. But yeah that's kind of what I was trying to understand from this post - who is living this life charging right now, what does it look like, and how much do you love or hate it?
My landlord allowed me to pay to install a 110v outlet once I found someone to swap parking spots with me (my original spot was behind the elevators, my new spot backed onto the room with the basement electrical panel.) I got the last circuit left on the basement electrical panel. The cost including a cut to the landlord was just under what I had paid for gas the previous year for my Prius. The building has been sold, the new landlord is honoring the installation and hasn't cut me off. They will not consider allowing for any more modifications. They are building a new building on the property and it will have L2 chargers for the residents using that building's garage. I live somewhere that gets very cold. The garage is technically heated but was below freezing this past weekend and the car interior was 29F at one point. The wind chill outside was -40. I also live in an an urban neighbourhood and do most of my errands by foot or transit. There are two public chargers, one on the street, one in an underground garage with a grocery store above it that also has a cafe to sit in. Both are within a 14 minute walk. They are my backup plan if I lose my sweet deal here. We are WFH but have managed to put almost 18K miles on each year. During a pandemic. In a place with major covid restrictions and family reasons to keep my interactions to a minimum. (P.S. love the car as a mobile isolation booth. We'd go get take-out and sit in the car eating it, enjoying a different view or just watching Netflix. Winter or summer, because hot or cold doesn't affect the comfort of sitting in the car while parked. We also keep two great camp rocking chairs and a picnic blanket in the back of the car and had many socially distanced outdoor visits with people.) I find 110v is more than enough, even with real winter drop in driving range. I basically hate the Tesla, but not because of the charging situation. That said, I find owning a Model Y endlessly frustrating and if I had the greater inconvenience of having to constantly be thinking about charging, that would be a deal breaker for me. You referred to you and your partners carS, so if you are keeping an ICE and just replacing one ICE with the EV it might work out. This is our only vehicle (we first reduced our carbon footprint by going down to a single vehicle and then further by moving from a rural village to a city centre and finally by buying an EV.) Thus everything is complicated by charging thoughts. (For instance to/from my son's is 100miles, so to pickup, bring home, enjoy the day and then return one my grandkids to their home is 200 miles which is beyond the range of my car on any day close to 0 even if I leave with a 100% charge. If I can't charge at home, I'd never be leaving with 100% charge to go anywhere which would be very limiting. If I had a backup ICE it wouldn't be an issue. I don't.
If there are fans around, there may be regular 120V outlets you can use
It sucks to have to run out and kill 30 minutes (plus driving time) to get a charge. We didn't have the home charger installed for the first few weeks of ownership and it wasn't fun. It even caused us to drive our old ICE vehicle a few times while the Tesla was on a low charge in the driveway. Now that we have the home charger it is way better and I don't ever see us running out to a supercharger again. The supercharger is about 10 minutes away but it was still a pain because we had to go every few days, in the evenings, since the 60% range is only about 170 miles. MYLR.
ok, so i'm new to this too and i just got my car. So! Download Chargepoint, PlugShare and check the electric chargers around you, look for plugs that are 50kWh and then buy the CCS adapter too. Its totally doable. Ask for me help.
Thank you, great tips!
While the CCS adapter may sound pricy, ive been saving about .10 on each kilowatt with it unless i wait for 11pm for when it dips down to .21 instead if the usual .43 in my area for after work.
It's so interesting that now that the BEV world has opened up we forget what we used to do when we only had ICE or HEVs. We would ALWAYS have to leave our abodes and drive to a GAS STATION (HORRORS!) EVERY WEEK OR WORSE depending on how far we drove. Now it seems we need to have that security blanket of "REFUELING" at home and never going to a refueling station anymore. How quickly we forget.... Nice to have a choice I guess, yes?
It is indeed quite nice! I do feel extremely privileged to soon be owning a car like this. We are actually getting rid of both of our ICE cars. Parking is its own headache downtown, and our unit is only deeded with one spot. I assume insurance would cover rental reimbursement in the event of needing to be in the shop? And with how little we truly need a car, I think we'd be ok for a short stretch without wheels.
Everything else aside… If you cannot charge at home or work, it’s NOT worth having one. Supercharging is practically at par with Gas unless you can always charge off peak, which won’t be likely if it’s your only reliable method. Between the expense and inconvenience of charging pretty much exclusively at public spots you’re better off without. Seriously.
You’ll be fine. Your situation sounds a lot like mine. I’ll use Chargepoint every couple of weeks when I need to. And supercharge on trips. As long as you have an affordable lvl 2 charger near you, it’s very manageable, especially if you work from home. I’ll plug mine in at the end of lunch, and then get it after work.
If you really want to save money, there should be plenty of free charging stations in LA. I did a quick google search and saw some.
Brooklyn checking in. I’m similarly low mileage. As long as you don’t daily commute it, it’s completely fine. I have L2s in the neighborhood and superchargers nearby and it just becomes part of your routine every two or three weeks. Not a big deal at all—burden is wildly overstated by people. I was also nervous about it pre-delivery but it’s been easy.
>I live in downtown of a major urban center. I have one super charger location nearby though its in a shopping center garage with paid parking (free 2hr validation if I shop). Another one that requires hotel valet parking (lame). Probably a lot of other kinds of non-tesla charging around, too. Sooooo Los Angeles ? Lol
That obvious? :P
Your usage case sounds similar to my brother-in-law and without a dedicated charger, it can be a bit of a pain. Those public chargers (especially free or free with validation) are often occupied so I wouldn't rely on those. If you live near a Tesla supercharger and don't mind paying those rates, that would be more doable just because charging speed is usually much better.
Totally. It also looks like I'm surrounded by EVGo, EV Connect and Chargepoint stations. Not sure what the experience will be like for those.
I have never run into issues with Charge Point. Can’t speak for the others.
I just ordered my first EV too, but I live in a house in OC. You can download all the apps for Chargepoint, Electrify America, etc and see which chargers are in use and even the make of the car!
It’s not that bad. Although, I do have chargers at my work so I charge for free while I’m there. I go to the office twice a week on Monday’s and Friday’s. And that basically gets me through each week. If I miss a day in the office, I’ll maybe supercharge for like 5-10 minutes and just get 20-30% to get me through to the next day in the office. But it really isn’t that bad. And that’s with current winter weather conditions. It’s even better in the spring/summer :) congratulations!
Why buy an EV if you’re not sure where to charge your car?
Always be charging if you are on 120v. If you don't even have that it's going to be expensive and a hassle.
Not necessarily. The L2s near me are all free so switching to gone charging has actually cost me money (but gained convenience).
I wouldn't base any purchase decision on what is free. Volta has been turning their chargers to paid in many places plus they do have a limit in many places, it's rude just to hog it for hours and hours and finally someone else may decide to hog it the entire day as well then you are wasting time going to find fast charger which isn't great for the car.
I used public L2s for four months, was fine. I would charge once a week and just go for a run or a long walk. If it was really empty I’d walk home and go back later on in the day. Obviously depends on your daily mileage and local charging infrastructure. I really didn’t mind it.
Thanks for this. About how much were you driving per week? I'm hoping to get away with less than once a week with my current mileage.
4 miles a day and then 20-60 on weekends
I use Volta charger, its free charging and it takes 6 hours for charging 20% to 80%. The charger is at a mile from me so I just use an electric scooter to go home and come back after few hours. I do it twice a week.
If you drive that little just go to Whole Foods or something, they always got chargers :D
Just try to time it with a shopping trip of some kind. Not a problem if you only charge like once a week.
Given the warm weather I think you’d be fine.
Def an inconvenience but doable based on your usage. Just make sure to keep sentry mode off when parked at home (if safe neighborhood) as that will kill quite a bit of the idle time battery. Otherwise you’ll probably have to use a supercharger around every 10 days are so not to have the range get to low (<40mi for me personally).
Charging won't really be a pain when you aren't driving much, but honestly I wouldn't own a car or a fancy car to drive next to nothing. Anyhow. You can just charge at the shopping center garage or find another supercharger, Be aware though that superchargers aren't cheap. Charging at home is fairly cheap and with the actual range that you get, it isn't even that cheap.
Wow. If you don't drive that much. I would use a cheap ice car...And wait till 2-3 more years. Because there will be more options for EV vehicles and technology.
I did that 3 years ago, people have been saying this for a long time. It’s getting a bit tired to be honest! There’s no predicting supply chains in this world and Tesla still seems lightyears ahead in terms of what I’m looking for. Our cars are getting old and my we want a nice, comfortable, tech forward car. This is what we landed on. With the tax credit (hopefully) and splitting the purchase together between our incomes, the financial picture remains fine for us.
Yeah. But he only drives about 6000 plus a year. Why pay 800-1000 plus monthly plus insurance? And the headache of ownership....but hey. That my imo
I can afford it, and I want my time in the car to be nice. I’ve been in an ICE-level car my entire driving life and can finally upgrade, so I’m going to. How much of a headache is this car to own? It seems pretty straight forward but I don’t have it yet. I know people way lazier and less fussy with their belongings than me who drive pricier Teslas than me.
Download PlugShare, i mean.. i have a home charher but rarely use it. When i'm below 20% i'll just go to supercharge and charge quickly. If i want my car to always be at 80% then i'll just charge at home for 1.5hrs after work. (Est 30miles roundtrip)
I once went to a supercharger that was inside of a hotel's paid parking lot. The guy taking the money said Tesla's park for free because of the supercharger. Might be the case for that hotel too.
Lucky you. 50mil week is good enough for charging once a month.
I charge late at night or early in the morning (off peak pricing). Make sure to navigate to the supercharger to get pre conditioning. Best to expect 25 minutes to an hr depending on SOC, battery temp, exterior temp, etc.
If you don’t have kids and it’s not a problem to sit at a supercharger for an hour then go ahead, time is your enemy
painful and expensive
You'll have no problems at all. I don't have a home charging setup (no driveway). My wife will charge it at work, at a ChargePoint. We use the supercharger to top off before any trips and when on the road.
You’ll spend a lot of time driving random places just to charge it. And your road trips will be planned by Tesla, not yourself.
Supercharging at my local target took 1-1.5 hours (8 of 10 chargers were being used) temperature was like 12degrees F in MN) for the first week after delivery before my home charger was installed. 30cents/ kWh is not great and I wouldn’t recommend it long term. My home electricity is 9.4 cents per kWh. I wouldn’t personally buy a Tesla if I did not have my single family home.
I live in the city and do have a way to charge at home, but rarely do. I tend to use ChargePoint to find charging. And if I'm going someone and need to find parking, I'll look for the garages with free charging. (I'd pay to park anyway, so the free charging is a bonus).
For your situation it’s not bad ……if you daily drive the car and gotta charge every other day it would be very annoying. Also keep in mind dc charging it’s supposed to be not the best for the battery……see below https://optiwatt.com/blog/the-comprehensive-guide-to-maximizing-your-teslas-battery-efficiency-and-battery-life
I personally use the trickle charger at home. The annoying thing about SC in your situation is you will have to wait for the car to charge. The thing I really like about my EV is that charging takes me about five seconds. Yeah, it's only 5mi/hr or so, but whatever, that's roughly 100 miles a day. More than enough. The downtown shopping centre could work for you. Just charge whenever you happen to be going there anyway. Let's say you got there once a month and grab your two hours free every trip. That would eliminate most thumb twiddling waiting for the car to charge. You say you can't charge at home. Where do you normally park? Is it close enough to an outlet to trickle charge? Maybe sometimes just randomly if you happen to get a particular park? Could you talk to whoever manages the park about putting a power outlet in? My point is that three phase and/or high voltage are both nice but are not necessary for your situation.
Don’t just look at super chargers, some Kohl’s and shopping center offer free charging. I, on occasion park at kohl’s on Tuesday and Thursday, charge and go to the gym. Or take a midnight Tesla movie date night and charge for about 21 cents a kWh, cheaper than any home charging in the LA area.
Just realize how spoiled I am. Charging is 3 cents a Kwh from 10 pm to 6 am at my home. Crazy cheap.
That is crazy cheap! I would bathe in electricity…
Do you have your own parking area? Like a garage? If you do, use the 120v plug. It will give you 3/mph. Should be good if you don't go places everyday. At the minimum it will lessen the trips to the SC.
Haven’t had an issue charging with superchargers, but sentry mode running overnight will use between 2-5% depending on temps…
If you rely on just SC and charge up to 80% and never below 20%… is that safe for the life of the batteries? I read that just supercharging isn’t idle since you’re charging the battery super fast for optimal temperature. In the same boat and thankfully have 4 hours L2 free charging.
you definitely want to figure out a possible place for long term cheap charging. Otherwise some of these chargepoint/lvl 2 chargers can be quite expensive and slow
I’m in the same no home charger. I charge at work for free two days a week, then there’s the free charging while I do my daily grocery shopping, free charging at the gym and there’s super charging. It’s doable!!
Supercharging frequently is awful for the battery so expect over time to lose a lot of your range. You’re also supposed to keep the car plugged in when not in use, which you won’t be able to do. I would have recommended a plug in hybrid for your little usage for the sole reason of relying on superchargers and that you can’t keep it plugged in when not in use.
Also, I wouldn’t recommend using chargers not designed for the vehicle. There aren’t studies on the last affects of using chargers not designed for the vehicle, but if it’s not designed for it then don’t use it.
Only if you are planning on keeping the car for ever. I am not! Max 2 years or until the market re-adjusts and I can get out of this car. There are reports where people only use superchargers for a year and no battery degradation however it is going to happen regardless b/c of what it is made of. I don't keep my car plugged in as I dont have a garage. Plus look at the European counties and majority of the people park int the street and use chargers all the time in cold weather. I think people are too sensitive sometimes..It is a car after all and not some shiny diamond.
It’s a 50-100k vehicle, costs more than a diamond. Also the manufacturer states to not supercharge frequently and to keep the vehicle plugged in at all times to ensure battery safety. If you don’t, you will have battery issues and range issues. And if you need a battery replacement and they can prove that you mistreated the battery and didn’t follow manufacture instructions they won’t warranty it. I’d say the European countries are the ones who complain about range more than here. I bet there’s a correlation. IMO if you don’t have a garage, a means to install a NEMA 14-50 charger at home then you cant properly maintain the vehicle and shouldn’t get it
Nope the car is not even $100k not for a M3 or a MY. Prices dropped to the $30-40s now., not sure where you have been. Dont' believe it. You continue to believe everything a manufacturer says and I bet you drive the speed limit too? haha . Not always true about the battery degrade and range issues. Just read little more and do more research. Nope, I don't have a garage and will NEVER obtain one. I don't need to spend money on one. I get free charging at work everyday, free charging at the gym and at grocery stores. Guess who is winning?
I said 50-100k because the vehicle line up is that. Even so, 30-40k (you legit can’t buy a new one in this range..) is still more expensive than a diamond. You do realize you are operating a death trap? Vehicles of any brand are legit capable of killing your and anyone on the road if maintained poorly. It is also entirely proven that supercharging frequently will have a negative impact on your battery health and range. Good for you for having a weird stance against garages, most homes are built with them now but go you for putting your expensive car through the weather. And I’m glad you have a free charging option but still, to ensure max battery health it needs to always be plugged in when not in use for extended periods of time (I’m talking over night or days you don’t drive) Also weird you want to heavily rely on other places. I don’t want to rely on my work to provide me the ability to drive somewhere. What if you get laid off? Or the gym closes. Or the grocery stores start charging. Living your life, especially the transport factor, in reliance on others is not the way I wanna go. But you do you. Regardless, I hope you don’t have battery issues
30 to 50 miles a week is 1 gallon of gas bub, I'd definitely get a camry hybrid in that case and save yourself $40,000.
Ive have a MY for 3 years, previously at a house where I charged daily. I am in the opposite situation, I drive 80-100 miles daily. No brainer having a EV for multiple reasons to me (environmentally speaking you have to own the vehicle for a least 5 years-20k miles per year to break even with the carbon footprint generated over that same time by an ICE vehicle, as you may know) but also the technology, the self driving capability, etc. Now, for the last 6 months we moved and now I’m in a condo (own it) but that won’t allow owners to install EV chargers. It’s a major pain in the neck, however, I have been able to adapt the best way possible. I’m in ATL, and fortunately there’s a shopping area walking distance from my building. The chargers are in their parking garage (there’s like 30 chargers, it’s the largest station in GA) so I plug it and go upstairs to do my groceries, or go to the gym for a quick 30 min workout or run, etc. money wise it’s still better than gas. At 2k miles per month I’m paying about $200-300 vs $500-600 that I would pay in gas.
It sucks. Theres 2 free areas to charge by me. But people just park there all day at full.